* ICYMI: Madigan Trial Week in Review. Capitol News Illinois…

- Monday, October 21: Madigan’s approach to power at center of opening statements in his corruption trial
- Tuesday, October 22: Feds ‘turned over heaven and earth’ in Madigan probe but found no real bribes, co-defendant says
- Wednesday, October 23: ComEd exec testifies utility prepared for bankruptcy before 2011 law threw it a lifeline
- Thursday, October 24: ‘My client is the speaker’: Jury hears wiretapped calls of Madigan co-defendant, longtime friend

* Related stories…

∙ Tribune: Hazy world of Springfield politics at center of ex-Speaker Madigan’s trial

At 2:30 pm Governor Pritzker will give remarks at Award Ceremony for Major Chase Wilhelm. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* ABC Chicago | Gov. Pritzker, first lady dress up as Shrek, Fiona for Halloween: ‘What are you doing in my swamp?’: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and First Lady Mary Kathryn Muenster celebrated Halloween dressed as Shrek and Fiona this year. “What are you doing in my swamp?” the governor joked on social media. “Thanks for coming out early to celebrate Halloween with MK and I!” The couple passed out candy to trick-or-treaters on Saturday at the Governor’s mansion.

* Daily Herald | ‘It’s got to be a fair deal’: Arlington Heights legislators open to Bears funding if the team comes back to town: “The deal will not have substantial state funding,” said Democratic state Sen. Mark Walker, whose 27th District includes the former 326-acre racetrack the Bears purchased in 2023. “And if there is tax relief available for the corporate enterprise, we can work that out, provided in the end it balances out to an advantaged situation for the community.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* QC Times | Johnson faces challenger Rodriguez to represent IL-72 District: The incumbent Democrat representative, Gregg Johnson, said his priorities are improving opportunities for the future generations by increasing investment in local schools, improving access to mental health care, and focusing on local economic growth opportunities. His Republican opponent, Charlie Helmick, said that his top priority is the well-being of residents in the area. To achieve this goal he proposes curbing illegal immigration and increasing spending on law enforcement to improve safety, and expanding incentives for businesses.

*** Statewide ***

* WSPD | Paid voting leave to assist voters who work on election day: Eligible voters in Illinois can take up to two hours off from work on election day, anytime between the opening and closing of the polls. Any employer found in violation will receive a written letter from the Illinois Board of Elections detailing the allegations but will not face criminal penalties, according to Matt Dietrich with the Illinois Board of Elections.

* Tribune | Illinois has the most public bodies in the nation, multiplying opportunities for graft: Most infamous is the case of Rita Crundwell, who, as comptroller and treasurer of the small north central Illinois town of Dixon, perpetrated the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. Crundwell embezzled $54 million in city funds to pay for a lifestyle that included expensive quarter horses, jewelry, vehicles and properties while city services went lacking.

* Capitol News Illinois | State, Cook County use similar arguments to defend assault weapon bans: Attorneys in the offices of Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx made similar arguments in recent court filings as both defend bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines against constitutional challenges. In separate cases at different levels of the federal court system, both offices are trying to make the case that the laws under challenge – a state law enacted in 2023 and a county ordinance that dates to 1993 –fall within the bounds of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent interpretation of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | What happens if Chicago can’t pass a budget? ‘Murky waters,’ ‘dire situation.’: Experts say failing to pass a budget in time could quickly threaten the city government’s ability to carry out many services and pay its workers. It could harm the city’s credit rating and jack up costs for borrowing money while deeply shaking the faith Chicagoans have in their elected officials. Those pricey pitfalls should serve as a warning as the mayor and aldermen start to work out a budget in earnest, said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank.

* In These Times | Chicago Teachers Have an Ally As Mayor—Now They’re Fighting for a Historic Contract: “He only understands austerity,” Davis Gates says of Martinez, who was appointed by previous Mayor Lori Lightfoot. ​“What you see is a struggle between what was and what will be. Pedro came of age at a time when Arne Duncan was ​‘turning schools around,’ where he would fire every worker in the building from the faculty to administration to the janitor to the lunchroom. It’s a struggle against what was once good enough versus the transformative power of a fully-resourced, fully-staffed school community.”

* Crain’s | New CPS board president won’t say if board will fire CEO, calls question ’silly’: Rev. Johnson said it was “politicized” and a “loaded question” to ask whether he and the new board would fire Martinez. “If the city is on fire, don’t talk to me about anyone else other than putting the fire out,” he said. “And the fire that we have now is inequity when it comes to every group of people in this community, and Black students in particular.”

* ABC Chicago | After School Matters breaks ground on 36K square foot facility in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green: The nonprofit’s meaningful mission is to provide after school and summer opportunities for nearly 20,000 students across Chicago. The organization broke ground Saturday on the start of renovations on a 36,000 square-foot facility located at North Orleans and West Hill Streets in the city’s Cabrini-Green neighborhood dedicated to teen programming.

* Sun-Times | Former Ald. William Beavers dies at 89: “Bill Beavers will go down in history as one of the most progressive African American Alderman in the Chicago City Council,” Sean Howard, the family’s representative, said in a statement. “He was unapologetically Black and proved so by his countless efforts to propel Black businesspersons to engage in city business and contracts.”

* Sun-Times | Illinois Black Panthers heritage trail sets record straight about its history: The Black Panther Heritage Trail will mark 13 historical sites important to the Illinois chapter of the civil rights organization in the Chicago area in an effort to reveal long-buried truths about its work in the community.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | ‘A mutual combat situation’: Trial for former Cook County assistant state’s attorneys gets contentious as prosecutors allege wrongdoing: The defendant was Jackie Wilson, whose infamous case was critical to unveiling systemic practices of torture within the Chicago Police Department, and he was being tried for a third time for murder in the slayings of Chicago police Officers William Fahey and Richard O’Brien. The certificate showed that Nicholas Trutenko, a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney who prosecuted Wilson during his second trial in 1989, flew to the United Kingdom a few years later to serve as godfather for the daughter of one of the key witnesses against Wilson — a jailhouse informant with a long rap sheet.

* Naperville Sun | Naperville Central High School’s new ‘tiny forest’ meant to pack big environmental punch: Together, they planted some 276 trees on just under 1,100 square feet of the campus. Just saplings to start, it will be a while before the forest is fully matured. But the hope, Tse says, is to eventually have the hub of greenery grow to be a self-sufficient ecosystem like any other forest you’d find across the state — just a lot smaller.

* Daily Southtown | Lemont fire district seeks voter OK for $46 million bond sale, aims to drop response times: For the owner of a home in Cook County with a value of $400,000, the bond issue would mean an extra $185 in property taxes, according to the district. For the owner of a home with the same value in DuPage or Will, the extra tax cost would be $209 a year, according to the district.

* Daily Herald | ‘This gives us more tools’: Why Libertyville wants historical designation for its downtown: To expand the availability of state and federal tax credits and incentives, Libertyville officials are now taking steps to have the entire area in and around the village’s downtown designated as a National Register district. “This just gives us some more tools to move forward (with historic preservation) and it gives property owners incentives to upgrade in a historically acceptable way,” said Mike Kollman, a local architect and member of the village’s historic preservation commission.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Fallen IL State Trooper Thompsen remembered by loved ones: Thompsen’s middle school teacher remembered him as someone that “you just want your own children to be.” Hilton is a 7th grade social studies teacher at St. Joseph Middle School. She taught Thompsen about 15 years ago. “Corey was strong and definitely showed that in his running abilities on the track, in his academics and overall, just a kid to admire,” Hilton said.

* Illinois Answers | He attempted suicide. Peoria Jail restrained him in a chair for five days.: Clark and Fenderson were strapped down for the next four days. They spent Christmas together – restrained. Their treatment is not unique at Peoria County Jail, which has the distinction, in recent years, of restraining its charges in chairs for longer durations than other jails in the state and far past industry recommendations.

*** National ***

* NBC | Elon Musk’s X is boosting election conspiracy theories with AI-powered trending topics: The dubious content is spreading in the app’s “explore” section, which says it uses Musk’s AI software, named Grok, to aggregate trending social media topics. The information does not appear to be fact-checked by humans, and in several recent examples it seemed to repeat false or unsubstantiated claims as if they were true.